dictionary

Old-school word nerds meet the digital age

Now here's one you don't see every day: Wordnik, which launched out of private beta on Monday and states its mission as "discovering all the words and everything about them." Taking the basic premise of a dictionary, Wordnik supplements each entry with Web 2.0's tastiest treats--relevant Flickr images, Twitter search matches, user-contributed tags and comments--and then invites users to add their own words, too.

Calling itself a "project" rather than a company, Wordnik's origins are sort of like a dot-com fairy tale. CEO Erin McKean, then serving as editor-in-chief of Oxford … Read more

Powerful Arabic-English dictionary

The VerbAce-Pro - Arabic-English-Arabic Dictionary is a simple, intuitive program that lets users translate and define words in English and Arabic. With more than 60,000 entries in each language, the program is a powerful tool for users seeking to navigate between the two tongues.

The interface is sleek and offers two ways to enter text: either type it directly into the program's text box, or click on a word that you want to see defined and translated. Users can adjust the combination of mouse and keyboard buttons they use to define words; for example, the default is Alt-left … Read more

Babylon brings translation to your desktop

The ancient city of Babylon was a crossroads of cultures and languages, and the program Babylon makes good on its linguistic heritage. It can translate 31 languages from your desktop, offers a huge gallery of glossary add-ons, and gives direct access to Wikipedia results in 20 languages. In addition to deeper language libraries, the latest version introduces a new, streamlined interface, single-click document and Web site translation, and a new language detection-feature that recognizes languages without user input.

Babylon translates individual words and phrases on the fly by highlighting and right-clicking or using a hot-key combination that can be adjusted … Read more

Dictionary.com's iPhone game tests ur spelling

Since launching its Dictionary.com app for iPhone and iPod Touch in early April, the folks over at Dictionary.com have been plotting other iPhone applications that use the tools they've got: grammatical, orthographic, synonymic authority. And while they're at it, maybe duplicate the numerical success of their reference app, which has floated among the iTunes Top 10 since its launch, and which hit more than a million downloads within the first three weeks.

The conduit of such lofty ambitions is Miss Spell's Class, a 99-cent app that despite its name, letter-grade scoring, and nostalgic background of college-ruled paper, Dictionary.com insists is aimed at their core demographic of high school and university students, and business professionals.

The app is straightforward. You quickly decide which of the 20 words in the round are spelled correctly or incorrectly. Points are knocked off for inaccuracy, and added to your total time. If it takes you 40 seconds to go through the list, but you get two wrong, your score spikes up to 60 seconds, a B. So save the pokiness for reviewing your score and for kicking yourself for casual errors.

The game is cute all right, and a test to the ego in the way that SATs and other standardized tests are--taunting in their simplicity, and debasing when you miss a word you ought to know. At least you're not alone--the misspellings that are your object to spot are siphoned straight from the top 5,000 botched words entered into Dictionary.com at a rate of 2 million typos and flubs per month.

Still, there are a few light raps of the ruler we'd make. In a test game, 'consiencious' was paired with 'consensus', rather than with 'conscientious'. Apart from that, we're not quite convinced the game will make us more intelligent, until Dictionary.com slips in definitions, and perhaps the pronunciation guide from the free Dictionary.com iPhone app. Miss Spell's Class is also a bit one-dimensional. Although this game title is just the beginning, we'd like to see it instilled with different skill levels and playing modes, where you might actively spell a word, not just passively review it, or quickly choose the right configuration from a handful of choices. There should be different skins to pull in the grade-school youngsters, old fogeys, and tweens who are too cool for school, and competitions over Wi-Fi.… Read more

Five iPhone apps for writers

When people ask me if it's hard to be a writer, I tell them the challenge is not just thinking up the words, but putting them in the right order. Then they roll their eyes and walk away, reminding me I need to work on both my material and my delivery.

Anyway, like any professional, a writer relies on tools. Here are five that make a great addition to any iPhone or iPod Touch:

Dictionary.com Duh. Every writer needs a good dictionary and thesaurus. This one, a freebie, serves up 275,000 definitions, 80,000 synonyms, and even … Read more

Only slightly abridged

Free, straightforward, and attractive, Dictionary.com for iPhone and iPod Touch has one or two highlights that give it some interest beyond searching for a quick dictionary definition. It isn't the only dictionary application for iPhone by a long shot, but it is a solid effort that has brand name appeal for Internet vocabulary geeks--plus, it's got those helpful tidbits we mentioned. For instance, after typing a search term, you can switch between the dictionary definition and thesaurus without losing your word. Also, the definitions and synonyms are preloaded into the app, which means your world of words … Read more

Dictionary.com on iPhone, slightly abridged

You use it online, and beginning on Wednesday, you'll be able to use the popular Dictionary.com reference service on your iPhones and iPod Touches.

The free Dictionary.com for iPhone is straightforward, but attractive, and has one or two highlights that give it some interest. It isn't the only dictionary application for iPhone by a long shot, but it is a solid effort that has brand name appeal for Internet vocabulary geeks--plus, it's got those helpful tidbits we mentioned. For instance, after typing a search term, you can switch between the dictionary definition and thesaurus without … Read more

The 404 241: Where Brian Tong is not Filipino or the white balance is off

Assault with a deadly burger, bar bathroom toiletries, perfect strokes, black balls and boba straws, and Asian gangstas are just a few of the topics brought up by today's guest, Mr. Brian Tong from CNET TV! He usually keeps it clean on his show, the Apple Byte, but The 404 is all about letting loose, and trust us--he does. This might be the most perverted, nasty, NSFW, and all around hilarious show EVAR- OMGBBQ!

I don't even know where to begin. Brian Tong, star of CNET TV's The Apple Byte joins us today for what be our … Read more

Essential back-to-school software

You might be enjoying the dog days of summer now, but look out! The school year is just around the corner, and teachers, books, classes, and winter will be here before you know it. Get a jump on the upcoming school year with a collection of downloadable software for communicating with classmates, managing your homework, learning new study skills, or harnessing the reference power of the Internet. You can even find software to let you call your parents free from college. (Seriously, your mom wants a call.)

Digsby

Facebook profiles, instant-messaging networks, various Web mail accounts...who can track them … Read more